Four of our teams were in action in Week 23 of the Edinburgh & Lothians Table Tennis League.
 
The week started off with Team 3’s trip on Tuesday 14th March, to take on Haddington 3 in Division 2. James Wighton, Julian Taylor and Ian Hislop travelled to East Lothian knowing that they needed to improve on their first half performance against the Haddington outfit which had finished in a 5-5 draw. Julian was up first against Mark McMullan. In the reverse fixture Mark had come out on top – it was a good sign therefore when Julian won in four ends. That was backed up by a win for Ian against Gordon Aien and the first round of singles was concluded with a victory for James over David Hayman. Match 4 pitted Julian against Gordon – in the reverse fixture Julian had also lost out in this one but he reversed that result with a comfortable four end victory. The night got better for the visitors when James got the better of Mark in 4 ends to secure at least a point, 5-0. David got the hosts on the board against Ian in match 6 but the win was then secured as James and Julian combined for an important five end win in the doubles. Further wins for Julian and Ian secured an 8-2 victory, a terrific result for Team 3.
 
Thursday night at Ladywood was a busy one with three teams in action. Team 2 hosted North Merchiston 2 in Division 1. Krzysztof Laszkiewicz, Gary McDougal and Abby Wighton know they’re in deep relegation trouble. The report from Team Captain, Mr Scrabble Man, was a brief one – “Abby played well, don’t ask us the score!” Oh well let’s move on!
 
Team 4 has, for virtually all of this season, been very much in the relegation battle in Division 3. But then so have a number of teams – no division in the League is as tight as this one. Even with most teams only having two or 3 games left to play no fewer than 6 teams (that’s more than half the division) remain in trouble. Any two of that six could go down. Bob Porteous, Richard Millar and Jim Jack faced a crucial match against Haddington 6 on Thursday evening, the hosts starting the night second bottom and the visitors fourth bottom, separated by just 2 points. The reverse fixture had ended in a 5-5 draw – Team 4 needed to change that result into a win. The night started well with Bob winning in straight sets before Richard was involved in a vital five ender. Having lost the first two ends 11-6, 11-8 he turned the match around winning the next three 11-9, 11-8, 11-7. Jim then looked to make it three wins out of three and was unlucky to lose out 11-8 in the fifth. 2-1 to the hosts. The next set of three singles also produced 2 wins for the hosts and so they held a 4-2 lead going into the doubles. When Bob and Richard combined for a win a point was secured for the hosts. Match 8 then saw Richard involved in another five end marathon – this time, however, he let a 2-0 advantage slip as he lost the final three ends 10-12, 11-13, 9-11 – couldn’t get much closer than that! Still a chance therefore for the visitors to pull out a draw. Match 9 put the result beyond doubt as Jim secured a three end win against his opposite number. Bob then rounded off an excellent night for him and the team with a four end victory to give Penicuik a 7-3 victory.
 
In an important week for Team 4 they were again in action the following evening as they made the trip to Edinburgh University. They were hit with bad news before the match got underway with the withdrawal of Richard who had injured himself the previous night. Jim Jack stepped in to join Bob Porteous and Rachel Petrie. The visitors got off to a great start when Bob won a tight first match 13-11 in the fifth. Defeats followed however for Jim and Rachel before Bob won another fifth end decider to level the scores at 2-2. The pattern repeated itself unfortunately as the hosts won the next two singles – 4-2 going into the doubles which Bob and Rachel won in four ends – 4-3 down with three matches left to play, could the visitors recover for at least a point? Rachel was then involved in a mammoth five set match and fell at the last hurdle, a 9-11 loss in the decider put the pressure on Bob in game 9 to keep the match alive – it wasn’t to be as Bob lost out in four ends. In the end the University side won the last match of the night to secure a 7-3 victory. So, two matches in two nights and two points secured - that win v Haddington keeps Team 4 one point above the relegation zone.
 
Team 5 were also in action at Ladywood on Thursday 16th March, as they hosted West Lothian 5 in Division 4. Patrick Shanks, Sian McDonald and Chamika Diyunugalge were the trio selected for his week’s encounter. WL 5 are flying high at the top end of the Division and probably favourites for promotion, so this was never going to be an easy match. Sian was unlucky in Match 1 when she lost out in four ends, the three she lost being by the narrowest of margins, 12-10, 13-11 and 11-8. When Patrick then lost a fifth end decider 11-9 in Match 2, the hosts knew they were in for a long night. Although Chamika lost match 3 in straight sets, it may have been a different story had he not narrowly lost the first end 16-14. Patrick got the hosts on the board in match 4 before Sian again lost out by a very narrow margin – at 1-1 in ends she lost the next two 11-13, 10-12. Match 6 also went the way of the visitors and that secured them a point. Luck just didn’t seem to be on Sian and Patrick’s side as they lost the doubles in five ends, the three ends they lost – 8-11, 11-13, 9-11! The night was summed up by Patrick’s loss in match 8 – another 11-9 in the decider going the way of the Bathgate side. Chamika then lost in five before Sian lost another in 4 as the hosts fell to a 9-1 defeat. As we often say, some 9-1 scores do represent a true gulf between the sides – this 9-1 doesn’t do that. We are sure the WL side will be the first to say that the match was much closer than the score suggests. A good effort by our newest team in the League.
 
We suppose for sake of completeness we have to at least give the score from Team 2’s match! 8 ends won in their 10-0 defeat. The fat lady is just about to sing….
 
And so, to our player of the week award. It’s a two-way fight this week between Julian from Team 3 and Bob from Team 4. Both had undefeated nights in the League and both contributed to victories in the doubles – Bob spoiled a perfect week for himself by playing two nights in a row and dropping a match against University – 5 wins out of six on the week is mighty impressive. But given that Julian in the reverse fixture against Haddington had only won 1 against the same trio that turned out in Week 23, his undefeated night was hugely important in Team 3’s victory – well done to Julian.
 
And finally, our controversy of the week section. We learned this week that Team 1 appear to have conceded a fixture to Murrayfield 1. That was news to both Colin and Greig. Colin sought a postponement of the original fixture scheduled for 30th January. Murrayfield agreed to the postponement. They then offered the 16th of February as a proposed rearranged date. As a result of personal circumstances Greig couldn’t make this date and so Colin advised Murrayfield of that fact (we only have two players as a result of the injury to Brian in the first half of the season). Murrayfield had indicated that they were struggling to find suitable dates. Colin suggested 3 other potential dates and, in his mind anyway, the Edinburgh outfit would come back to him once they had looked more thoroughly at the matter. Although the online scoring system shows the match as postponed, it was noticed by us last week that it also shows as a concession – Colin took the matter up with the Match Secretary and lo and behold Murrayfield appear to have claimed the game on the basis that they offered the 16th of February and we couldn’t make it so done and dusted – a 10-0 win to the Team who are running away with the Premier title and who have an abundance of Premier League players at their disposal. Apparently no other possible dates exist on which they could fit in a rearranged fixture. Yeah thanks Murrayfield. Had Colin known this to be the position which was going to be taken, he would have grabbed someone from a lower team and played with two players – who knows Colin may have won some matches – let’s hope game difference doesn’t play a part at the end of the season with Team 1 in relegation trouble! We are considering an appeal against this “claimed concession”.
 
Most teams now only have two or three matches left - Week 24 here we come. 

​Week 22 of the Edinburgh & Lothians Table Tennis League was a very quiet one for the Club with only two teams in action.
 
Team 2 made the trip on Tuesday 7th March to take on Edinburgh Sports Club in Division 1. Team 2 are in real trouble and although we were criticised a little for having written them off somewhat prematurely as relegation favourites earlier in the season, their recent run of form has done nothing to give us any hope that they might by some miracle manage to stay in the Division. Their last two defeats have been by 9-1 and 10-0 scores. Whilst their opponents are going to miss out on promotion they sit comfortably in fourth position in the table. This match was never, therefore, going to be easy for Krzysztof Laszkiewicz, Gary McDougal and Abby Wighton. They faced Chris Shaw, Alan Nisbet and Alexander Asyunkin. This match was played out of order with Team 2 allowing Chris to play his 3 matches at the outset – something that Team 1 Captain, Colin Green, would never have allowed – surely it gives the player an advantage of warming up, getting into a nice rhythm and playing players who are cold – but hey Team Captain Krys is obviously too nice – he might have been regretting his decision when Chris won all three of his matches dropping only two ends in the process. At 3-0 down the team’s chances of picking up anything from this match were fading away. 3-0 quickly became 6-0, and by that point spirits were down heading into the doubles. Abby & Gary took on the two remaining ESC players and never really threatened – the night ended as it had begun with another three wins for the hosts as Team 2 suffered a 10-0 loss.   Three matches left for the Penicuik trio and the problem for them is that whilst they sit 3rd from bottom at present the two teams below them who sit level on points and one point below them respectively have still to play each other – whatever the result of that match, one of the two teams is going to leapfrog Penicuik. That means Team 2 needs at least a point and maybe 2 from their last three matches to have any chance of survival. Eight matches for Team 2 have resulted in 6-4 scorelines and SEVEN of them have been defeats. That’s got to hurt!
 
The only other match this week saw Team 5 travel to the Gyle to take on Murrayfield 11. The reverse fixture resulted in a 5-5 draw at Ladywood. On this occasion squad rotation resulted in the visitors fielding Aidan Craig, Ian Millar and Chamika Diyunugalge.  When Aidan lost the first match of the night, the Penicuik trio feared the worst. Despite losing his first end of the night 11-2, Chamika then won the next 12-10 before losing the third 10-12. He was well the match – oh hold on, his inconsistency resurfaced with an 11-1 loss in the fourth! That’s something to work on! After Ian lost match 3, Aidan got the visitors on the board in match 4. That was as good as it got unfortunately for Team 5 as they fell to a disappointing 9-1 defeat.

And so, to our player of the week award. Well this is difficult! 6 players in action, 20 matches played and ONE solitary win – that came from Aidan but we can’t really give out a player of the week award for that, can we?? Hmm? Even more bizarre would be to give it to someone who won no matches, wouldn’t it? So for the first time (and hopefully only time) this season, we’re looking back to any contenders recently who were unlucky to miss out – Patrick last week was undefeated and as for Week 20 we ignored that both Bob and Richard were undefeated and gave it to Phil who only won two! We came in for some criticism for that decision! Surely it’s time to right that wrong? Eh maybe not! We can’t go back a couple of weeks – last week we overlooked a player who deserves a mention.  A new player this season, he turns up regularly at practice on Wednesdays and Saturdays and takes on board all advice given out. From his start point at the beginning of the season, he has made terrific progress and if he can convert his practice play to match play his win rate will improve dramatically. Week 21 saw him win his first match of the season (if we ignore his win against Mr Walkover earlier in the season). That win secured a 5-5 draw for his team as well – Congratulations to Roscoe – keep up the hard work.
 
And finally, our controversy of the week section. As we mentioned above, Team 2 agreed to a player playing three matches in a row – in the end it didn’t have any impact on the result. In a similar vein though we had to seek a ruling in advance about a team (or player from a team) seeking to turn up late. The player was going to turn up over an hour after the starting time. We expressed unhappiness at this prospect and ultimately the player wasn’t late. The ruling however was a little strange. It was suggested we didn’t have to agree to such and we could claim the players games in those circumstances. We don’t think that’s what the rules say. What we seem to be stuck with is the rule that if an opposing team or player is more than half an hour late then if the match can’t finish in time (and only in that event) any matches that can’t be played are forfeited. The old rule was that the opposing team / players had 30 minutes to show up failing which the match would be forfeited. Now though a player could turn up a couple of hours late, we’ve played virtually all the other matches but we have to play the late player. In what other sport would that be allowed. We’re not quite sure why the old rule has vanished – seems bizarre.
 
We also had reason last week to question why new players can’t be registered after 31 January. We had a couple of new players join the Club in February. One of them is only here for six months and wants to play competitively. He’d love to play in the League. But he can’t. The rationale? A strong player coming in after that could affect promotion and relegation. Opponents playing against a new strong player after 31st January could complain that other opponents who played against the team earlier did not face that new strong player, and so post 31st January opponents would be at a disadvantage, which could affect promotion and relegation. Surely that’s too early? By 31st January this season our Teams 1 and 2 still had 8 matches to play - more than a third of a season’s fixtures. And what’s the difference between a new player being registered on 31st January or a week or two later. Makes no sense to us.
 
Oh well on we go to Week 23, missing from our league membership a couple of players who, had they arrived a couple of weeks before at the club, could have played league table tennis. 

​Into March already and Week 21 of the Edinburgh & Lothians Table Tennis League saw all five of our teams again in action.
 
The week started with Teams 2 and 5 both travelling to Edinburgh International on Wednesday 1st March. Team 2 have been in trouble for virtually all of this season and the relegation trapdoor from Division 1 is opening a little bit more for them - Krzysztof Laszkiewicz, Gary McDougal and Abby Wighton were not necessarily identifying this encounter as a target for points – the trouble for the team, however, is that there’s not many games left which look, on paper, particularly winnable! Probably the less said about this encounter the better – Gary was our best performer on the night with two of his three matches being decided in five ends – other than that this was a miserable evening as the visitors fell to a 10-0 defeat.
 
In the other half of the hall, Team 5 called upon Patrick Shanks, Sian McDonald and Roscoe Cairney in their Division 4 encounter. Sian lost match 1 in four ends before a four end win for Patrick levelled the scores. Roscoe then secured match 3 to give the visitors the advantage before the match was levelled again as Sian lost out in Match 4. This topsy turvy affair then swung in favour of the home side before Patrick won match 6 to level the score at 3-3 going into that ever crucial doubles. Patrick and Sian let a 2-1 advantage slip as they lost in five. For the first time on the night there was more than one match in it as the home side won Match 8 to give them a 5-3 advantage. But this game had been tight all night and wins for Sian and Patrick secured what in the end was probably a fair result – another 5-5 draw for Team 5.
 
The following night was a busy one at Ladywood with our three remaining teams all in action. Let’s start with Team 4’s encounter with Edinburgh University. Bob Porteous, Richard Millar and Rachel Petrie took to the table against the students who sat one place and one point beneath them in the Division 3 table.  It’s very tight at the foot of the division and the home side knew that a win here might give them the boost needed to get out of relegation trouble. Bob has had an excellent first season for the Club and so when he lost the first match of the night, trouble was brewing. The hosts fell 2-0 behind after Rachel’s loss in match 2. Richard pulled one back but Rachel’s loss in Match 4 reinstated a two game lead for the visitors. That lead was wiped out, however as Bob and Richard won matches 5 and 6 before combining for a doubles victory to give the hosts a 4-3 advantage going into the last three matches of the night. Match 8 looked like being crucial – Rachel recovered from 2-0 down to win a tight third end 11-9 before a walloping 11-2 win in end four put her in control – she was well up in the decider before falling to an 11-8 deciding end defeat. Two matches left and two wins needed for the win. The two thus far undefeated players took centre stage next as Richard took on Petrina Shek. Richard was 2-0 up but lost the third 12-10. In the fourth end he had a match point, hit what looked like a winner, only for the student to somehow blast the ball back even quicker for a winner of her own – a 13-11 defeat in the fourth sent this to a decider. Like Rachel before him, he fell 11-8 in the fifth and with that the chance of the win was gone.  A point wouldn’t be a disaster but a loss would, so pressure on Bob in the final match of the night – the pressure perhaps showed a little in the first end as he fell 11-8 but he composed himself and was rarely troubled in the next three as he secured a 5-5 draw for Team 4, keeping them just a point above the relegation zone.
 
Team 1 have had a dreadful run after losing their third player, and they knew that unless they could find a victory against bottom of the Premier League Murrayfield 4, they would probably become favourites for the drop. Krzysztof Laszkiewicz was again called upon to help out Colin Green and Greig McDonell in this vital match. When Krys lost match 1 and Colin lost match 2, this had the potential to be a horror night for the hosts. When Greig lost the first end in Match 3 it looked like the wheels were coming off, along with the engine, bodywork and everything else. Greig managed to steady the ship by winning Match 3 in four ends and Colin then brought the scores level in Match 4. The importance of a third player then showed as Krys had an excellent victory against young Haydn Jackson in match 5 and it got better for the hosts as Greig then defeated the Murrayfield number 1 to give the hosts a 4-2 lead going into the doubles. Colin and Greig combined well for a three end victory to secure at least a point. Colin then secured the overall victory in Match 8 before Greig completed his undefeated night in Match 9. Krys lost out in Match 10 but an excellent 7-3 victory for Team 1 gives them a fighting chance of survival in the Premier League. Mathematically Murrayfield 4 are now relegated.
 
Finally on Thursday night there was the eagerly awaited top of the table clash in Division 2 between Team 3 and Murrayfield 9. In the reverse fixture the Murrayfield youngsters of Nichole Lee, William Wang and Rory Thomson had picked up a fairly comfortable 8-2 victory. Ian Hislop who had played in that fixture was replaced by Hannah McDonell as she joined forces with James Wighton and Julian Taylor. After their slip up in Week 20 the team knew that anything out of this match would be a bonus. James threatened an upset in Match 1 against William but lost out in four ends. That loss was cancelled out as Julian defeated Rory in four. The next two matches played simultaneously saw Hannah take on Nichole and Julian face William. In Nichole Lee, Murrayfield have unearthed another extremely talented youngster and she has had an awesome season, winning 47 of her 54 matches played before this match. Hannah was therefore over the moon to win in three straight sets and when Julian did the same against William the hosts were suddenly 3-1 up. James was close in the first two sets against Nichole but she seemed to step it up to another level thereafter as she secured Match 5 leaving Hannah v Rory in the last singles match before the doubles. Just like Nichole, Rory has had an amazing first season at this level – without doubt if he sticks at it he’s one to watch for the future and will, no doubt, soon be mixing it with the “big boys”. Hannah was in control in the first end, 7-3 up and she looked to have the upper hand – an 11-9 loss dented her confidence, but she recovered to win the second 11-9. This was probably the highest quality match of the night. It was certainly the loudest! And we know the noise isn’t going to be coming from Hannah – as the game got tighter the noise levels got higher and at various points play on the other four tables stopped as attention turned to see what was going on. What the various players witnessed was a cracking match in which the tenacious Murrayfield youngster secured the win to level the scores at 3-3 going into the doubles. Hannah and Julian have had a great run of form recently. 1-0 and 2-1 down against Rory and William they dug in and a tight 11-9 victory in end 4 was followed by an 11-6 victory in the decider to give the hosts a 4-3 advantage going into the last set of three singles. One win from three would secure at least a point – surely that was doable? Nichole and William took on Julian and Hannah simultaneously and both home players will rue missed chances as they both lost in four ends – Hannah’s match turned on just a couple of points as she lost out 9-11, 9-11, 11-8, 9-11 whilst Julian let slip a 1-0 advantage, although in fairness Nichole once again seemed to find a different gear in the last couple of ends. Suddenly a point would be a fantastic result for the hosts – James would have to take out Rory in the final match of the night – the tension and pressure, combined with his opponent’s consistent attacking play, probably got to James a little as he fell in three straight sets. A 6-4 loss for Team 3 – oh what might have been – irrespective of the result there was no doubt this was the match of the night.
 
And so, to our player of the week award. Let’s not beat around the bush here – there were only two players this week who were undefeated in singles play but Patrick lost the doubles that he played in so it’s congratulations to Greig – about time according to Colin that he contributed something to Team 1’s efforts to avoid relegation!
 
And finally, our controversy of the week section. As reported on above, there can be little doubt that the Murrayfield youngsters in Division 2 have very bright futures if they continue their progress. The noise level, however, from one of their players was absolutely ridiculous. Not only do we have tennis style grunting with every shot that’s played but in between points the constant chit chat and yelps of delight or disgust became intolerable for many players who were trying to play their own league match on Thursday night. Even the Murrayfield players who Team 1 were playing felt it was over the top. Rachel, Bob and Richard had to halt proceedings in their match because of the noise and it added to the night a degree of resentment from Team 3 towards their opponents which could really have been avoided.  We all have moments where we need to vent, whether that be a “good boy” chant or a scream of horror when we miss an easy shot. We get that we’re not robots and there’s nothing wrong with encouraging yourself somehow and geeing yourself up. TT is not a silent game but there has to come a point where a line is drawn, and something is done about this type of behaviour. As we’ve said many times before though, what can we expect when youngsters look at some of the top players in the game and they behave in a similar manner. The problem with Thursday night is that it spills over to those watching so James became very upset by the fact that not only would the Murrayfield supporters be clapping a good shot but they would also clap poor shots or misses from James – suddenly ill feeling exists. What do we do about it? Surely it has to start with the Clubs themselves stamping down on behaviour like this when it becomes excessive? This was a terrific match full of some excellent play from both sides and it’s a shame that that’s not all that the match will be remembered for.
 
In Team 4’s match, Rachel had a real gripe that in her crucial match which she lost in five, her concentration was completely lost after being comfortably up in the decider. At that point one of the Uni players came into the court to sit beside the umpire – is that controversial? No! You need to concentrate harder Rachel!
 
On we go to Week 22.

All five of our teams were in action in Week 20 of the Edinburgh & Lothians Table Tennis League.
 
The week started off with Team 4s trip on Monday 20th February to Bathgate in Division 3 to take on West Lothian. Team 4 have been dicing with the Division 3 trapdoor for a significant part of the season. And despite having picked up some excellent results they’re still in danger. West Lothian 4 sat in a comfortable mid table position going into the match which saw Bob Porteous, Richard Millar and Jim Jack make the trip to Bathgate. After the first three matches the visitors held a 2-1 lead with wins for Bob and Richard. When Richard held his nerve in Match 4 to win 14-12 in the fourth end and Bob then won match 5, a 4-1 lead had the Penicuik side in control. West Lothian pulled one back before the doubles, which, as always. Was to prove crucial. Bob and Richard took to the table and after a tight first end ran away with the next two to give the side a 5-1 lead and a point at least was guaranteed. That was converted into two points as both Richard and Bob won their final matches of the night for a 7-3 victory. Team 4’s fight to maintain their Division 3 status continues.
 
Two nights later, Teams 1 and 3 both travelled to Edinburgh International. Let’s get the very bad result out of the way first – Greig McDonell and Colin Green called on the services of Mr Scrabble man from Division 1 to help them out in their crucial Premier League encounter. The first half of the season had seen both Colin and Greig win 2 and a doubles victory for the pair had secured a draw. On this occasion Greig never recovered from a straight sets defeat in match 1 and despite pushing Brian Wright to deuce in the fifth he came away winless. Colin managed to defeat Brian (the Edinburgh side’s number 1) in five sets but he lost out to Marek Domegala in the last match of the night. Krys acquitted himself well without getting on the scoreboard in what was an extremely disappointing 8-2 defeat for Team 1.
 
In the other half of the hall, Team 3 were trying to maintain their push for promotion from Division 2. Julian Taylor, James Wighton and Hannah McDonell had recorded a 6-4 victory in the first half of the season at Ladywood but when George Oliver defeated James in match 1 on the night, the Penicuik trio knew they were in for a tough fight. The excellent Shashibhushan Girish was the difference on the night as he won all of his singles matches to put Team 3 under real pressure. 4-2 down going into the doubles as Julian and Hannah sought to continue their recent run of excellent performances – this was tight but after winning the first 12-10 and the second 14-12, the Penicuik duo secured the important win with an 11-7 third end victory. Hannah then defeated Ken Benjamin to bring the scores level at 4-4 but James was no match for Shashibhushan as a point slipped away from the visitors – Julian won his final match of the night as the sides drew 5-5. Let’s hope this dropped point doesn’t prove crucial at the end of the season.
 
It was then the turn of Teams 2 and 5 at Ladywood on Thursday 23rd February to bring the week to a close, the Club looking to add to the win from Team 4 at the beginning of the week. A win wasn’t to come from Team 2 - Krzysztof Laszkiewicz, Gary McDougal and Abby Wighton were always going to be up against it as they faced League Leaders Corstorphine 1. Krys was involved in two very close 5 end losses but even had they gone the home side’s way the Edinburgh outfit were always in control. Well done to Abby though who picked up an excellent win in Match 8 to ensure the team avoided a whitewash – a 9-1 defeat and Team 2 are in real relegation strife.
 
Meanwhile Team 5 of Phil Daly, Patrick Shanks and Chamika Diyunugalge took on Gullane in Division 4 – in the first half of the season Team 5 had recorded a whitewash 10-0 victory – things were different this time around – only one of the Gullane players remained from the first half fixture and they brought in to their team Ian Ladbroke, a man with a rating of more than 1000. To put that into perspective if you add up Patrick’s and Chamika’s ratings they still don’t match Ian’s. Our highest rated player, Phil, was some 400 points lower rated. There was probably no surprise then when the Gullane number 1 secured all three of his singles. The match which perhaps cost the home side the most was an agonisingly tight affair between Patrick and his opposite number – an 11-9 first end win for Patrick was then reversed by a 14-12 loss in end 2 and an 11-6 loss in end 3. Patrick seemed to get the momentum back with an 11-6 win in the fourth before the nervy fifth end went the distance, Patrick just losing out 11-9. Effectively the team were 5-2 down going into the doubles (assuming that Chamika was not going to pull out an amazing win against the 1000 rated man). Patrick and Phil found themselves 2-1 down but battled back with a 14-12 win in the fourth end and on this occasion they triumphed in the fifth to keep the match alive. With Patrick winning his last singles the pressure was on Phil to secure the draw in the last match of the night against Patrick’s conqueror. Whilst he dropped the third end 11-9 his teammates had every confidence in him, and he won the vital match in 4 ends to give the home side a 5-5 draw.
 
And so, to our player of the week award. Hmmm – only one winning side this week and two undefeated nights for Bob and Richard in the singles and they combined for the doubles victory. How do we split them - impossible so neither of them are winning this week's award. Of the other matches played there were two players who had 2 wins each and a vital contribution in the doubles so this week's award sees a two way fight between Phil and Julian – credit to both for holding their nerve to secure a point for their teams in the final match of the night – the award could have gone to either of them (or really to Bob or Richard) but given this man’s lack of game time (this was only his sixth match of the season) well done to Phil. Maybe the award should be in our next section - controversial!!
 
And finally, our controversy of the week section. Nothing really of any substance this week so we’re just going to have to have a go at Edinburgh International! We criticised ourselves earlier in the season for our premises being like a freezer – talk about polar opposites - Ed Int’s premises were unbelievably hot for Teams 1 and 3 – now as we know our Club President isn’t the best of movers (do his feet actually ever move) and so when he comes off the table with sweat pouring from him you know there’s something strange going on – as James pointed out, it was like playing in a sauna. We think this was a tactic from Marek, however. Stick the heating up as high as it goes and get that Greig guy sweating – he’ll not be able to cope – and he was right!
 
During Team 1’s match, the only real controversial moments came in the doubles. Colin twice served close to the middle line and on both occasions the opposing receiver called a fault and caught the ball. The umpire then called a fault and gave the point on both occasions to the home side. Now we’re not in the slightest suggesting that the umpire was biased – but let’s face it from a seated position it’s virtually impossible to make a call when it’s so close. Ultimately we have to trust that the receiving player probably had the best view of the middle line and if he saw it as a fault it probably was – the way to have a better chance of umpiring such close calls though is to stand up while umpiring doubles – we still can’t believe the amount of times that’s not done in our league.
 
We’re getting towards the nitty gritty part of the season – on we go to Week 21.

Week 19 of the Edinburgh & Lothians Table Tennis League saw the quarter finals of the Handicap Cup take place. Of our four teams entered this season only one had reached the last 8 stage – Four players have been used this season, Greig McDonell, Colin Green, Aidan Craig and Jim Jack with Greig dropping out for this match. Their quarter final tie on Monday 13th February took them to the Gyle to face a very international Murrayfield trio of Artur Chodacki (-4), Phillipe Allamichel (Scratch) and Amit Kumar (-3). Jim playing off +5 got the match underway against Artur – a 9 point start in a race to 15 – this was tight – Artur followed his 16-14 first end win with a 15-12 win in end two. Jim looked in trouble but his teammates were buoyed when he won the third 15-4 – had he worked his opponent out – the fourth end also went to deuce and it was Artur who triumphed 17-15. Phillipe then faced Colin (-13) in match 2. Colin’s consistency and tenacity was too much for Phillipe as he overturned a 13-0 deficit in 3 straight sets, 24-17, 24-22, 25-23. 1-1 and the match was in the balance. Aidan (+2) then took to the table with a 5 point advantage v Amit. Aidan has had a great first season in Division 4 but his Division 2 opponent was too strong for him as he fell in 3 straight sets – advantage Murrayfield.
 
Match 4 on the night saw Jim back to the table against Phillipe – when Jim lost the first set to deuce the Penicuik side were in trouble. Unlike his first match, however, Jim managed to play the big points better than his opponent as he won the next three sets to bring the match score level again at 2-2. Artur v Aidan then followed the same pattern – Aidan lost the first set to deuce (16-14) but dug in deep to win the next three to give the visitors their first lead of the night. Amit and Colin were then involved in probably the match of the night – Colin gave away a 10 point start in a race to 21 – he won the first two ends 22-20, 21-18 and looked in control. Amit had other ideas winning the next two 21-19, 21-17. The crucial deciding end saw Colin get off to a fantastic start and when he caught Amit early, the match was effectively over – a 21-14 win put the visitors one match away from the win. Game 7 saw Aidan take on Phillipe – only a two point start for Aidan despite these players playing two divisions apart – Aidan lost the first end 13-9 but then played his best TT of the night winning the next three 13-4, 13-4, 13-9 and with that Penicuik had secured an excellent 5-2 win. On to the semi finals they go.
 
Away from the League a quick mention of two of our Handicap Cup Team – Greig and Colin spent the weekend of 10th to 12th February in Derby representing Border Reivers in the British Veterans League. Having gained promotion last year from Division 5, the same team picked up another promotion this year from Division 4, and unlike last year when they lost out on game difference for the title, this season they won their Division, pushed all the way by a strong side from Blackpool TTC. Ten matches played over two weekends in Derby and the Reivers won the Division with 8 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat. Greig and Colin both featured high in the individual averages – Greig with 70%  and Colin with 68.75%. A terrific achievement.
 
And so, to our player of the week award. All three players played well for the victory in the Handicap Cup – Colin had to battle back twice from big deficits and Jim was unlucky not to win two on the night. Although Aidan dropped his first match of the night, his progress this season is there for all to see – playing against players who are far more experienced than him and who are playing at a much higher level in the League, he secured two excellent victories to see the team over the line – well done to him.   
 
And finally, our controversy of the week section. With only one match taking place we’re struggling this week for anything controversial! The Handicaps seemed to generally be fair – lots of close scores would suggest that. Colin managed not to fall out with anyone – maybe that’s actually controversial! The only thing we can comment on is the utter domination of Edinburgh Table Tennis at the moment by Murrayfield – clearly the biggest club in the area – and clearly the best Club in terms of strength of depth – In the last 8 of the Handicap Cup they had five teams. Only our side managed to defeat a Murrayfield side meaning that 3 of the four semi-finalists are Murrayfield. If we look at the Premier League, Murrayfield 1 are well clear and on their way to yet another title, Murrayfield 2 are in second place and their third team are in fifth place and still in with a chance to finish in either third or fourth place – they are four points behind third but with a game in hand – third would probably have been theirs had it not been for turning up in two of their last three matches with 1 regular player and two youngsters playing up from Division 2 – two 6-4 defeats which would otherwise surely have been wins. Taking that into account we would probably have been looking at a 1,2,3 finish for Murrayfield this year – how utterly remarkable would that have been – remarkable but also thoroughly depressing for the rest of us. The controversy? Back to the point we aired earlier in the season about not allowing any Club to have more than a certain number of teams in any division of the League – realistically though that’s never going to happen – another suggestion made by another club was that from their wealth of players, they farm some out to other clubs who are struggling with numbers – like an “on loan” spell in football – interesting but again unlikely to ever happen!!
 
Jings a long report for just one match! We’ve got all five teams to fit in next week!!